The invention relates to optical disc apparatus adapted to retrieve data stored on optical discs such as compact discs (CDs) or digital versatile discs (DVDs).
Such optical disc apparatus, having been widely used, include a pickup assembly. The assembly is adapted to focus a laser beam through an objective lens onto an optical disc placed in the apparatus, to detect light reflected by the optical disc, and to output a read signal according to the detected light. The assembly is mounted so as to be movable along a radial direction of an optical disc placed in the apparatus. The assembly is provided with an actuator for activating the objective lens. On the assembly mounted are an actuator printed circuit board (hereinafter referred to as the actuator board) and a controller printed circuit board (hereinafter referred to as the controller board). The actuator board is adapted to control the actuator. The controller board is adapted to instruct the actuator board to activate the objective lens. A flexible printed circuit board (hereinafter referred to as FPC) is connected to each of the actuator board and the controller board in order to establish electrical connection therebetween. Referring to FIG. 1, an FPC is mounted with sufficient looseness to prevent wire breakage or disconnection from being caused in connections between the FPC and each of the actuator and controller boards by the movement of the assembly. If mounted with insufficient looseness, in other words, the FPC causes a high incidence of such wire breakage or disconnection.
In the meanwhile, the FPC as loosely mounted is likely to interfere with other components. This is more the case with an apparatus in which an FPC is used to connect two circuit boards whose relative positions vary depending on operation modes, because the variations in relative position cause the FPC to have varying degrees of looseness. Many approaches have been proposed to prevent interference of an FPC with other components. Typical examples of these approaches are disclosed in JP H09-051179A, JP 2002-072041A, and JP H09-275285A.
All of these conventional approaches have been to prevent interference of an FPC with other components by providing an apparatus with an additional device for adjusting looseness in the FPC. Thus, the conventional approaches involve an increase in manufacturing costs and dimensions of the apparatus.
In view of the foregoing, a feature of the invention is to provide an optical disc apparatus adapted to prevent wire breakage or disconnection in two printed circuit boards connected by an FPC without increasing manufacturing costs and dimensions of the apparatus.